that's the exact dongle I have clicked in right now on this photo. the TB dongle is bit perfect (cm102 inside) and works at 44/48k just fine.
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Just got mine, still waiting on a few parts like the power supply dongle to get here before I load raspbian..
No reason I can see why this can't compete in the big leagues performance-wise with a little clever engineering, a mature OS (not yet there) and some careful thought afore-hand wrt implementation.
No reason I can see why this can't compete in the big leagues performance-wise with a little clever engineering, a mature OS (not yet there) and some careful thought afore-hand wrt implementation.
the config, as pictured in the 'colorful case' (lol) is fine for a headless audio player. the opto out goes into a DAC and that's where the audio matters (for the most part). at 44.1k rate, it keeps up fine.
now, over wifi its not super reliable. I used the recommended usb dongle and while it does work, wired ethernet is SO much better. if you can, at all, use wired (even powerline ethernet) you are strongly encouraged to do so.
it mounts its music shares across either nfs or samba (or even a mix). that remote disk stack works fine and the tcp/ip stack is, of course, fine.
what is NOT fine is putting audio behind a hub. there was an old linux bug about usb1 audio devices behind usb1 and usb2 style hubs. I think usb1 (old style) hubs are transparent enough but usb2 can 'hide' some of the audio features and the card may be seen but won't work. same with wifi, it can be partially seen but not fully init. putting the usb device ON the REAL 2 usb ports always works. and so, you have 2 usb choices of things to connect and try to avoid hubs if you can. in my config, I have only 1 usb item populated and so I'm trying to make it as easy as I can on poor little pi-usb
(the 2nd usb cord is optional and if it ever gives me problems, I can remove it and its feature).
now, over wifi its not super reliable. I used the recommended usb dongle and while it does work, wired ethernet is SO much better. if you can, at all, use wired (even powerline ethernet) you are strongly encouraged to do so.
it mounts its music shares across either nfs or samba (or even a mix). that remote disk stack works fine and the tcp/ip stack is, of course, fine.
what is NOT fine is putting audio behind a hub. there was an old linux bug about usb1 audio devices behind usb1 and usb2 style hubs. I think usb1 (old style) hubs are transparent enough but usb2 can 'hide' some of the audio features and the card may be seen but won't work. same with wifi, it can be partially seen but not fully init. putting the usb device ON the REAL 2 usb ports always works. and so, you have 2 usb choices of things to connect and try to avoid hubs if you can. in my config, I have only 1 usb item populated and so I'm trying to make it as easy as I can on poor little pi-usb
(the 2nd usb cord is optional and if it ever gives me problems, I can remove it and its feature).I've played with mine quite a lot and lost many hours to it.
The USB falls over all the time, really all the time. Ethernet performance is shocking and if you hold a steady 2-3mbps it will die in ~2-4hours requiring a reboot.
The ethernet is USB provided so there is already an internal USB hub...
It is so slow, people are glossing over it but it is the slowest thing ever with a real distro on it.
Fun to play with but has no place in a reliable audio setup. I've had much better luck with small routers (TP Link WR703n)
I've messed with the PI all round, removed polyfuses, added caps, massive linear PSU, heatsinks and overclocking; it is a kids toy
This looks a bit more serious : ODROID :: Hardkernel
The USB falls over all the time, really all the time. Ethernet performance is shocking and if you hold a steady 2-3mbps it will die in ~2-4hours requiring a reboot.
The ethernet is USB provided so there is already an internal USB hub...
It is so slow, people are glossing over it but it is the slowest thing ever with a real distro on it.
Fun to play with but has no place in a reliable audio setup. I've had much better luck with small routers (TP Link WR703n)
I've messed with the PI all round, removed polyfuses, added caps, massive linear PSU, heatsinks and overclocking; it is a kids toy
This looks a bit more serious : ODROID :: Hardkernel
I've played with mine quite a lot and lost many hours to it.
The USB falls over all the time, really all the time. Ethernet performance is shocking and if you hold a steady 2-3mbps it will die in ~2-4hours requiring a reboot.
The ethernet is USB provided so there is already an internal USB hub...
It is so slow, people are glossing over it but it is the slowest thing ever with a real distro on it.
Fun to play with but has no place in a reliable audio setup. I've had much better luck with small routers (TP Link WR703n)
I've messed with the PI all round, removed polyfuses, added caps, massive linear PSU, heatsinks and overclocking; it is a kids toy
This looks a bit more serious : ODROID :: Hardkernel
Can't say I'm having the same experience....running MPD on the PI, controlling it with my Android Tablet, Android phone, as well as GMPC on my Linux computers while the PI streams my ripped FLAC CD's to my Reciever via a usb sound card using a digital Coax connection. Heck I'm even streaming my music to my smart phone when on the road!
When I'm not using MPD, I'm running Pianobar on with a web front end to control Pianobar.
As for the USB...yes...some problems there, but I don't run into them unless I try to run XBMC, otherwise with MPD and Pianobar, the PI has been rock solid for me.
This is definitely more encouraging..
More details on MPD?
MPD was a piece of cake, just ran sudo apt-get install mpd, the edit the /etc/mpd.conf file. My ripped FLAC files are on a shared drive attached to a hacked version of a Linksys NSLU2 that I mount via nfs.
Using mpdroid on my Android phone/tablet and running gmpc on my ubuntu laptop and desktop computer.
I bought a cheap sound card for the SPDIF conversion to my amplifier which sounds great Aliexpress.com : Buy PCM2704 USB DAC USB Power fiber optic coaxial analog output sz 11 from Reliable audio amplifier board suppliers on Besram Technology Inc.
[image]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...AbHrs7wKNhUzs9suZklmsP2cFr5OPwyxL_5pWKsPbXdY3[/image]
Actually rather shocked at how well the analog port sounded on this card too. When I installed this card I had to make a change to the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file and changed the usb-snd card line too:
Code:
options snd-usb-audio index=0 nrpacks=1This changes the USB sound DAC to be the first device (Default).
Bad performance; maybe a bad set of boards...
From what I understand; the new 512 MB version (Rev 2) addresses this issue by separating the Ethernet from the USB hub.
More importantly, and something I am more sure of (as I cannot find the quote for the Ethernet statement above) is that certain builds of the boards had issues related to performance and especially the lan performance.
If you check the chart on this page: RaspberryPi Boards - eLinux.org
you will see a dozen different build versions, some with issues that mirror your experience.
FWIT-You may want to order a new board. Get a new Rev2 512 MB and see how that performs. I have three RPI and one of them performs really well. It is overclocked to 900 MHz and I use it for XBMC. One of them is a dog, that disconnects from wifi, loses keyboard connectivity when LAN connected, and I chalk it up to the fact that I bought them 3 months apart, and I probably have 2 good ones, and a dog...
From what I understand; the new 512 MB version (Rev 2) addresses this issue by separating the Ethernet from the USB hub.
More importantly, and something I am more sure of (as I cannot find the quote for the Ethernet statement above) is that certain builds of the boards had issues related to performance and especially the lan performance.
If you check the chart on this page: RaspberryPi Boards - eLinux.org
you will see a dozen different build versions, some with issues that mirror your experience.
FWIT-You may want to order a new board. Get a new Rev2 512 MB and see how that performs. I have three RPI and one of them performs really well. It is overclocked to 900 MHz and I use it for XBMC. One of them is a dog, that disconnects from wifi, loses keyboard connectivity when LAN connected, and I chalk it up to the fact that I bought them 3 months apart, and I probably have 2 good ones, and a dog...
the config, as pictured in the 'colorful case' (lol) is fine for a headless audio player. the opto out goes into a DAC and that's where the audio matters (for the most part). at 44.1k rate, it keeps up fine.
now, over wifi its not super reliable. I used the recommended usb dongle and while it does work, wired ethernet is SO much better. if you can, at all, use wired (even powerline ethernet) you are strongly encouraged to do so.
it mounts its music shares across either nfs or samba (or even a mix). that remote disk stack works fine and the tcp/ip stack is, of course, fine.
what is NOT fine is putting audio behind a hub. there was an old linux bug about usb1 audio devices behind usb1 and usb2 style hubs. I think usb1 (old style) hubs are transparent enough but usb2 can 'hide' some of the audio features and the card may be seen but won't work. same with wifi, it can be partially seen but not fully init. putting the usb device ON the REAL 2 usb ports always works. and so, you have 2 usb choices of things to connect and try to avoid hubs if you can. in my config, I have only 1 usb item populated and so I'm trying to make it as easy as I can on poor little pi-usb
I've played with mine quite a lot and lost many hours to it.
The USB falls over all the time, really all the time. Ethernet performance is shocking and if you hold a steady 2-3mbps it will die in ~2-4hours requiring a reboot.
The ethernet is USB provided so there is already an internal USB hub...
It is so slow, people are glossing over it but it is the slowest thing ever with a real distro on it.
Fun to play with but has no place in a reliable audio setup. I've had much better luck with small routers (TP Link WR703n)
I've messed with the PI all round, removed polyfuses, added caps, massive linear PSU, heatsinks and overclocking; it is a kids toy
This looks a bit more serious : ODROID :: Hardkernel
I don't believe so...outside of more memory in the SoC, the USB core inside the SoC is still the same and the LAN IC access that USB core. Some have argued the USB core in the SoC is a poor choice and can't be fixed, while some believe that over time the USB driver can eventually solve issue.
The problem is rather strange for sure, some it affects badly while others seem to be okay. For me, as soon as I fire up an CPU intensive processes, my LAN port dies and won't come back. But I have not had a single problem running MPD and/or pianobar streaming FLAC from my NAS system so I'm happy. I had wanted to run XBMC on the PI but gave up when I learn XBMC on the PI doesn't support ALSA (for the time being) and so couldn't take advantage of my USB sound card.
But for me I'm happy with the PI...my main goal was to get rid of my Roku Soundbridge while having the ability to play FLAC and the PI does the job and more!
I have a Logitech Media Server running on my Pi with 256MB RAM.
Currently I have a Squeezebox Classic connected to the amplifier but I should get another 512MB version soon and that one I would like to use it with a software squeeze box player.
The LMS works very well. Only while scanning many new files in the library I'm unable to stream. But that's not something I do allot.
For the RPi I use SqueezePlug which is based on Raspbian.
To control the Squeezebox from my Android phone I use Orange Squeeze (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.orangebikelabs.orangesqueeze)
I never use the original Squeezebox remote any more.
Currently I have a Squeezebox Classic connected to the amplifier but I should get another 512MB version soon and that one I would like to use it with a software squeeze box player.
The LMS works very well. Only while scanning many new files in the library I'm unable to stream. But that's not something I do allot.
For the RPi I use SqueezePlug which is based on Raspbian.
To control the Squeezebox from my Android phone I use Orange Squeeze (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.orangebikelabs.orangesqueeze)
I never use the original Squeezebox remote any more.
I use my RPi as a remote desktop to several Windoze boxes around the house. It falls over, but only rarely, it's good for running rdesktop and quiet, which pleases my wife. It also runs full HD from machines that don't have a video card that'll run 1920*1080.
It definitely works as a music server, based on the numerous accounts of satisfactory installations, but I don't recommend it as a music player based on my experience. I put 10's of hours into trying to make it work, but I just get pops and clicks from the USB DAC. Maybe you can get a more recent version that works better, but maybe not. It's a risk. Not so much of the money, but the hours of work that you can put into it without getting a satisfactory result.
There doesn't seem to be a satisfactory resolution documented on the RPi forum. If it could really be made to work reliably I'd expect to see some evidence of it there. As it is there are some dead threads from a few months ago with people complaining about it not working. It's difficult to tell whether those people who say they've got it working just aren't as critical as people on here are likely to be.
Still, you can always use it as a remote desktop.
It definitely works as a music server, based on the numerous accounts of satisfactory installations, but I don't recommend it as a music player based on my experience. I put 10's of hours into trying to make it work, but I just get pops and clicks from the USB DAC. Maybe you can get a more recent version that works better, but maybe not. It's a risk. Not so much of the money, but the hours of work that you can put into it without getting a satisfactory result.
There doesn't seem to be a satisfactory resolution documented on the RPi forum. If it could really be made to work reliably I'd expect to see some evidence of it there. As it is there are some dead threads from a few months ago with people complaining about it not working. It's difficult to tell whether those people who say they've got it working just aren't as critical as people on here are likely to be.
Still, you can always use it as a remote desktop.
with usb1 audio (older cm102 cmedia usb/spdif converter) or the TI pcm usb/spdif converter, the rpi box (for me) has been working for weeks continuously. it seems stable with the latest code (from december).
not sure yet about usb2 and uac2 audio but older 16bit 44/48k audio dongles work fine.
what doesn't work so great is usb/wifi-n dongles. I can't get a long term wireless connection to stay. but wired ethernet and wired audio works ok.
not sure yet about usb2 and uac2 audio but older 16bit 44/48k audio dongles work fine.
what doesn't work so great is usb/wifi-n dongles. I can't get a long term wireless connection to stay. but wired ethernet and wired audio works ok.
Father Christmas brought me an Rpi. It doesn't seem to like being left unattended for too long. I have had wi-fi and external disc (on separate occasions) just stop working. Not sure if it is a temperature thing (USB chip?), or a badly behaved inactivity timer (it sleeps but won't wake up) or just minor USB power overload causing a bit of voltage sag. Comes up fine after a reboot, which suggests possible memory leak or counter overflow?
power power power.
I soldered wires from a barrel dc power connector that I mounted to its plastic case (ebay case from the UK). I ensure that I give it a linear 5v supply and that seems to make a huge diff.
hot plugging of usb can be problematic so I avoid it. it almost always crashes when I plug or unplug usb things. so I leave them connected and do a shutdown if I have to change topology. sigh. well, its not perfect but its not a laptop, either, where you WOULD need hotplug to always always work.
I soldered wires from a barrel dc power connector that I mounted to its plastic case (ebay case from the UK). I ensure that I give it a linear 5v supply and that seems to make a huge diff.
hot plugging of usb can be problematic so I avoid it. it almost always crashes when I plug or unplug usb things. so I leave them connected and do a shutdown if I have to change topology. sigh. well, its not perfect but its not a laptop, either, where you WOULD need hotplug to always always work.
I actually asked for one just to play; having spent a career playing with real computers but never daring to play with the Microsoft mess I regard PCs as just an annoying tool and I wanted to be able to play again. I was at one time a Unix-hater but who can argue with a DIY OS like linux? My aim is to teach myself Python, as it must be over 10 years since I learnt a new language. Any audio application will be a bonus.
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